Greenchicken12
New member
- Oct 19, 2023
- 1
- 2
- Parrots
- Green Cheek Conure
I have 3 GCC at my apartment. All male, one is 2 years old, the other 8 months and the newest edition to the family is only 4 months.
Just wanted some advice as the 4 month seems to be adopting some behaviour from the 2 year old which isnāt ideal.
To give you some background the 2 year old is my partners bird and has always been very temperamental with me but also others. When my partner and I first moved in together he was ok towards me but after a few months he started attacking me. It would always be initiated randomly and he would fly over and bite my neck or my forearms. We assumed it was because he was lonely and being protective of my partner so we decided to get him a friend (8 month old). After we got the 8 month old he become a lot more friendly and I was able to get him to step up and even have him on my shoulder at times. However, the two have become very dependent on each other and have bonded. They do share a cage, but it is large and they have plenty of toys. The 8 month old is very friendly with me and doesnāt ever bite, but I started to see issues where if I tried to pick him up and I didnāt get the initial cue that he wanted to remain, the 2 year old would then try to attack my hands. This become an issue when I needed to put them both in the cage or even to seperate them to have individual play time, on the first attempt of picking the 8 month old up the 2 year old would try to bite me straight away.
The problem now has only got worse when we decided to get a 3rd bird. At first the 2 year old was somewhat approachable and not biting, but it has now turned to him trying to bite me through the cage when I approach close proximity. Heād also randomly attack me, for example the birds would be up on their perch eating, myself on the couch on my phone, the 2 year old now flies over to me, hops on me and bites my forearms or tries to go for my neck (reminding me of the times when he was the only bird). The bites are quite nasty and I wasnāt good at responding to the pain at first but I am now able to hold him (he attacks my fingers whilst doing this) say no biting and put him in the cage for timeout.
The 4 month old who was quite innocent in the beginning has now started to change for me. I was able to get him to step up on my hand with no troubles, give him a kiss on the beak etc. However, the other day I picked him up and went for a kiss and he bit my lip which I thought was uncharacteristic but didnāt think much more of it. It has now turned into me not being able to pick him up at all without him biting me, and now even dashes for my hand when in near proximity. These arenāt nips either these are full on bites sometimes which tear off my skin, and can see full beak outlines. Iāve tried to do some training with him, rewarding him with treats if he steps up on my forearm but he still tends to go with his beak, even at times biting me extremely hard. If I show my hand he goes back into defence mode.
My partner is able to pick him up perfectly fine, give him kisses, even hold him with no nipping or biting. Obviously being the owner of the 2 year old he has no issues with him.
Being new to the bird world I do find it quite discouraging but I know not to show that to the birds but it is hard to not seem frightened when it seems the 2 year old takes any opportunity it can get to attack me. I just donāt want the same thing to happen with the 4 month old.
Just wanted some advice as the 4 month seems to be adopting some behaviour from the 2 year old which isnāt ideal.
To give you some background the 2 year old is my partners bird and has always been very temperamental with me but also others. When my partner and I first moved in together he was ok towards me but after a few months he started attacking me. It would always be initiated randomly and he would fly over and bite my neck or my forearms. We assumed it was because he was lonely and being protective of my partner so we decided to get him a friend (8 month old). After we got the 8 month old he become a lot more friendly and I was able to get him to step up and even have him on my shoulder at times. However, the two have become very dependent on each other and have bonded. They do share a cage, but it is large and they have plenty of toys. The 8 month old is very friendly with me and doesnāt ever bite, but I started to see issues where if I tried to pick him up and I didnāt get the initial cue that he wanted to remain, the 2 year old would then try to attack my hands. This become an issue when I needed to put them both in the cage or even to seperate them to have individual play time, on the first attempt of picking the 8 month old up the 2 year old would try to bite me straight away.
The problem now has only got worse when we decided to get a 3rd bird. At first the 2 year old was somewhat approachable and not biting, but it has now turned to him trying to bite me through the cage when I approach close proximity. Heād also randomly attack me, for example the birds would be up on their perch eating, myself on the couch on my phone, the 2 year old now flies over to me, hops on me and bites my forearms or tries to go for my neck (reminding me of the times when he was the only bird). The bites are quite nasty and I wasnāt good at responding to the pain at first but I am now able to hold him (he attacks my fingers whilst doing this) say no biting and put him in the cage for timeout.
The 4 month old who was quite innocent in the beginning has now started to change for me. I was able to get him to step up on my hand with no troubles, give him a kiss on the beak etc. However, the other day I picked him up and went for a kiss and he bit my lip which I thought was uncharacteristic but didnāt think much more of it. It has now turned into me not being able to pick him up at all without him biting me, and now even dashes for my hand when in near proximity. These arenāt nips either these are full on bites sometimes which tear off my skin, and can see full beak outlines. Iāve tried to do some training with him, rewarding him with treats if he steps up on my forearm but he still tends to go with his beak, even at times biting me extremely hard. If I show my hand he goes back into defence mode.
My partner is able to pick him up perfectly fine, give him kisses, even hold him with no nipping or biting. Obviously being the owner of the 2 year old he has no issues with him.
Being new to the bird world I do find it quite discouraging but I know not to show that to the birds but it is hard to not seem frightened when it seems the 2 year old takes any opportunity it can get to attack me. I just donāt want the same thing to happen with the 4 month old.
